Floss Friday - Cross Stitch Update, Turkeys, Basil, Peaches and A Fail

Hello, dear friends!

Here we are at the end of another week. This one was quick. I didn't cross stitch at all this week...which is unusual. The little bit of stitching I have to share is from last Thursday.  After we arrived in Ft. Walton Beach for my aunt's funeral, I needed to relax. I put 130 stitches in Wilding Hill Manor after checking in the hotel.

I finished one of the trees and started on the cat's tail.
                                            
We've had visitors almost every day.
                                              
The turkeys enjoy eating underneath the bird feeders.
                                                

                                                
I've encountered the swans a few times while on my walk around the lake as well. It is rare for me to see them out of the water. They stay to themselves.
                                                
I also had to harvest the basil as it was getting so big, even though we've been using it a few times a week.  I froze two ice trays worth.
                                              

                                              

                                                        
And still have this much left. There is already new growth forming.
                                                        
We are still able to get fresh South Carolina peaches so hubby made ice cream. I need to get a photo. And there is still enough for me to make a cobbler. 

We will be away again this weekend so I hope to get more peaches next week to freeze.

Some of you may remember Miss Lou's Pound Cake. Well, I attempted one this week and was shocked when it failed.
                                            
I've made this cake many times and this was the first time it came out like this. I know it was level in the oven. Hubby is going to check the calibration of the oven to see if the temperature is off. The only other thing I did different was I used a different brand flour. By the way, it still tastes delicious.

That has been my week. We are off to Philadelphia for a few days. It's been a few years since we've been and I want to see all those special places like Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, etc. during our country's 250th birthday. And since it's baseball season, we can't go to Philly without attending at least one game.

Before that though, I will be sewing the last block of the Sewcialites 3 quilt-along. From what I can tell, it is going to be another time consuming one.

Not sure when my next quilty update will post. It could be Saturday or next Wednesday. Either way, I hope to see you then.

Floss Friday -- May and June Cross-Stitch Stats

Happy Friday, Friends!

As I was preparing my June stats update I realized that I had not posted May's. So here they are...

Stitch count for May is 4,423 on five different projects.

My Works In Progress (WIPs) during May were Summer Stamp Sampler
                                               
Salute to Abigail
                                               
I had one Finished Object (FO), but not fully finished, Patriotic Pears                                     
There were two new Starts with Happy Day

And Red Letter Sampler

June's stitch count is 5,168 on three different projects.

My WIP for June was American Sampler
                                 
I had one FO with Salute to Abigail

I had one Fully Finished Object (FFO) with Summer Stamp Sampler
                                            
There was one Start And Finish (SAF) with Stitch with Me
                                            
That's a wrap for the last two months. So far, I have three new starts planned for July. These will be stitch alongs with friends and the Fat Quarter Shop. I'll also continue to work on American Sampler. Melisa at Pinker n Punkin' Quilting & Stitching is stitching patriotic all year, and that is my plan as well. 

Speaking of patriotic, I hope all of my USA neighbors have a safe and fun Independence Day celebrating our country's 250th birthday!

I'll be back Monday, July 6th with a quilty update.

See you soon,

Floss Friday -- Cross Stitch Update and Alaska

Happy Friday, Friends!

It has been a while since I’ve posted and visited my favorite blogs. I guess you could say I really checked out during vacation and was just living in the moment. It was fantastic.

Hubby and I took a 7-night cruise to Alaska. We flew to Seattle on June 7^th, boarded the ship on the 8^th and flew home on a red-eye flight the 15^th – 16^th. We are more exhausted from this trip than we were when we returned from Italy last September.

There was a cross-stitch retreat two of the days during the cruise. I had won the registration at a retreat last summer, which worked perfectly for our Alaska plans. The event was hosted by Anabella’s Needleworks and the featured designer was Stitching with the Housewives (SWTH). Priscilla and Chelsea are the mother-daughter team behind SWTH. Chelsea had a baby May 1^st and was unable to attend but Priscilla was there with us.

Priscilla and Chelsea designed a chart exclusively for the retreat attendees and provided finishing instructions. 

Anabella’s kitted the chart with fabric and floss. It became my focus stitching for the last week, and I’ve even fully finished it.

Chart: Stitch with Me

Fabric: 28 count white Monaco

Floss: Called-for Classic Colorworks

Stitch Count: 98 x 70

Finished Size: ~7” x 5”

I'll share retreat gifts and giveaways in a separate post.

When I wasn't stitching, Hubby and I were hiking, biking, glacier viewing, whale watching and eating…eating…eating!

I took way too many photos to post but here are a few from our trip.

Seattle was the only cloudy day we had the entire trip.

Yes, I bought fabric. More about that later...

A humpback whale waving...

We enjoyed Alaska so much that we booked a Land to Sea trip for next year.

The laundry is done and I am catching up at work. I’m also working to catch up on Melisa’s Summer Stamp Sampler.

Pinker N Punkin' Quilting and Stitching

I’ll be working on Sewcialites and Fat Quarters by the Dozen quilt blocks tonight. Can’t get too far behind on those.

Forgive me if I haven’t visited your blog for a while. I’ll get there, I promise.

In the meantime, enjoy your weekend.

My next post will be Monday, June 22nd...a quilty update.

See you soon.